Save Article

Organized Labor and Citizens United

Unions were the big winners in the 'corporate' free speech case.

By

Steven J. Law

Updated March 10, 2010 7:30 p.m. ET

When President Obama delivered his tongue-lashing to the Supreme Court in his State of the Union address—accusing the justices of opening "the floodgates for special interests"—he didn't mention the No. 1 beneficiary of the Court's Citizens United decision. Nor did Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) when he excoriated the campaign finance case as a victory for "corporate America."

The unmentioned winners massively outspend any corporation on politics. By their own admission, they dropped roughly half a billion...